Dave Morgan, editor of News Lincoln County, has invited the League of Women Voters Lincoln County to share personal essays on the value and importance of membership in the League. How have you benefitted and enriched your civic footprint through membership in and materials from the League of Women Voters?
This is a great opportunity to spotlight the League and showcase the many ways we can become educated about the political issues of today’s world with factual information and civility! Please share your experience by writing your personal story and submitting it to Patti Littlehales, patchuck@charter.net, publicity chair. Depending on the response, we will edit and consolidate everyone’s contributions into a series of medium length essays for publication.
Jean Cowan has provided the story of her involvement in the League.
"When a spouse’s job opportunity and eldercare responsibilities brought my family and me to Lincoln County in 1987, I left behind my intense community involvement in our previous little town. While looking to find my place in this new world, I attended a meeting of the League of Women Voters (LWV) Lincoln County. The organization was about to launch a statewide study of adequate school funding--one of my personal passions--so I signed on with enthusiasm!
Since then, my League involvement has allowed me to work with a host of intelligent and thoughtful individuals and to step into a variety of leadership roles. The three guiding principles of LWV that most appeal to my philosophy are the organization’s commitment to voter education, thoughtful examination of all sides of an issue before taking a position and the strategic use of those positions to advocate for policy development. Did we solve the dilemma of securing adequate educational funding? No – that remains a work in progress after all these years. But the opportunities I found in the LWV eventually led me to successfully run for public office: 12 years as a Lincoln County Commissioner; 6 years as State Representative in House District 10.
Now retired, I continue to work in the area of Voter Service, providing the electorate an opportunity to be better informed. During the chaotic election season, I urge voters to look deeper than 30-second sound bites and social media posts and learn all they can about how their chosen candidate will address the huge policy choices facing them at the city, county, state or national level. We welcome anyone who would like to join LWV as we study future policy choices and move into our role as advocates."
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